PROTIP: Multiple Foreign Offices = Mana from Heaven

If you build several foreign offices, you'll increase your chances of getting a food drop at least once a day. Multiple times a day if you're lucky. This will allow you to reduce your dependence on farms and kitchens. You can either try to supplement your existing food production, or if you go crazy on the offices, replace it completely. (although it's not quite as "set it and forget it" as farms + kitchens are)

Give them only one shift off, turn off all other job filters, and put in at least 3 desks for rapid point gain. If you max out the office, you can always remove laborers and assign them somewhere else.

It would be amusing to have your colony be some sort of spotter base for the Empire's airships. I mean basically you're using airstrikes to win the war without putting any boots on the ground, this is perfect.

But odd that diplomacy with the bandits is what lets you explode them.

There are 7 missions you can get for Empire (this is always the case, Empire doesn't react to standing, but bandits do). If my guess is correct, the game chooses randomly what to put in equally.

So a given Foreign Office would have a ~65% to get the food mission. Each food mission gives enough food for half your colonists for a day, so in the long-run, 2 FOs would be enough to feed your people and build up a buffer that grows over time.

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Bandits react to standing. You can only nuke them from orbit if you are hostile. While hostile, there are 7 missions for the game to choose from. This would suggest again 65% chance to get a bombing run mission each day, per FO, independently.

Currently, it seems bandits don't ever attack if you are at positive standings, this would imply you can quickly throw up a foreign office, put one guy in it, and then do a mission to get them positive, making your colony safe from them at least.

While friendly, there are 6** missions associated with bandits, one is the Guards mission. However, this one lasts for "a couple days" apparently, so you could have an office or two to keep on gaining standing with them and asking for guards to constantly keep some bandits on guard.

** Apparently the game will let you do "hostile" missions while friendly. Huh.

I wonder... if they died to something like fishpeople, you might be able to claim their guns in order to get some guns for free...? I believe bandits and fishpeople are hostile to one another by default, have to test to see if the bandit guards are just hostile to everyone or if they follow your standings while guarding you.

I should also check if accepting bandits into your colony will have them bring their gun along with them.

A certain failed experimental colony might be useful for these tests... heh

That's something I had in mind since I saw I had to choose between dedicating the FO to the Empire or to bandits: two F.O. and I had no more probles... but you completely broke the game! My dear Sir, you froze me in awe and admiration of your greatness!

1. While friendly with bandits, they might not attack, but they will still shoot you if you walk nearby (it might be because firebombing them makes them aggressive, but the attack event never occurs due to being friendly)
2. While friendly with bandits, you can get the mission to firebomb them still. Be careful as it reduces your standing, so make sure your standing is high before doing this.
3. Firebombs can kill bandits. So while you might not want to walk all the way out to prune your bandits, you can enjoy nuking them from orbit.

I actually don't even pay attention to the friendly/hostile standings. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference either way. I have two squads of militia outfitted with carbines anyway, so bandits can attack me at their own peril.

If bandits are at Friendly they never come over and attack your colony**.

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Sadly, I've lost more colonies to neutral bandits than anything else, though I keep forgetting to preserve the console before diving back in.

If bandits spawn camp instantly then this theory is annulled, but it seems like if the colony sits between their spawn point and where they walk to set up camp, they will attack any colonist they see on the way through without any event prompt or ticker message.

If bandits spawn camp instantly then this theory is annulled, but it seems like if the colony sits between their spawn point and where they walk to set up camp, they will attack any colonist they see on the way through without any event prompt or ticker message.

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I'm almost certain the camps spawn in. I've had situations where it would be quite difficult (not impossible) for bandits to reach some positions I've found them in.

Sadly, I've lost more colonies to neutral bandits than anything else, though I keep forgetting to preserve the console before diving back in.

If bandits spawn camp instantly then this theory is annulled, but it seems like if the colony sits between their spawn point and where they walk to set up camp, they will attack any colonist they see on the way through without any event prompt or ticker message.

Click to expand...

That's possible, there should be a specific "bandits are attacking" event, however, I've been attacked after just getting a "bandits are setting up camp" message. It might be that though the message says "their disposition is hostile" it's actually overridden by the diplomacy though. Remember you don't get the old "pick a policy" anymore, which used to be on one of those event popups.

Furthermore, while you can still randomly attack fishpeople by giving an order even while being a friend (and then they will all be hostile no matter what, it seems), I've encountered bandits you can't do anything to (they also don't attack) so it would seem that doing the Foreign Office "missions" to change your standing is basically the policy. Except I think unlike with fishpeople your colonists will not hassle/intimidate random bandits,

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Currently I do think it's a good idea to get a Foreign Office to do some quick +standing for the bandits. You could then get a naturalist from Empire I guess. The time taken to get the point is less than the time you get out of the naturalist (plus if they die to whatever it isn't like losing a standard overseer you've lost). Saving points so you can get the bandit-guards/Empire-redcoats might be useful.

It takes 1plank,1brick,1stone to build and then 1plank per desk. Once you're gotten Friendly with bandits it is fine to move your overseer&crew out to do something else, freeing up that relatively important early resource.